


Through Another Man's Eyes

by WinnietheShit



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: a little bit AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-25
Updated: 2012-09-26
Packaged: 2017-11-15 00:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/521176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinnietheShit/pseuds/WinnietheShit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But o', how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes."<br/>The TARDIS lands them somewhere both the same and so, so different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Not Barcelona

"We're... home. We're home? Doctor!" Rory winces. Amy does not sound pleased. He watches as she whirls on her heel to face the Doctor, just now stepping out of the TARDIS. The Doctor freezes at the sight of her face.

"Ah... yes?"

"We're on Earth."  She purses her lips and narrows her eyes.  " _You_ said we were going to Barcelona."

The Doctor makes a face.  "Yes, well, we  _are._  I just thought we ought to make a quick stop.  To... gather supplies.  Because we're out of... milk.  Yes, that's it, we need milk."  At the look Amy gives him he throws his hands up in the air and exclaims, "How am I supposed to enjoy a proper cup of tea  _if it hasn't got any milk_ , I ask you?  Pah!"  He turns away from them and disappears back into the TARDIS.

As Amy marches into the TARDIS after the Doctor, Rory crosses the street to a newsstand.  Might as well figure out what year they've landed in, he figures.  The vendor, an old man with a white beard who is wearing a ridiculous cap with plush reindeer antlers sewn on, frowns at the TARDIS before giving Rory the newspaper.  December 21, 2016.  It's nearly Christmas.  He looks around.  The streets are nearly empty.  "How come nobody's out shopping?" he asks, folding the paper.

"They've all left the city, what with what happened last Christmas."

"Last Christmas?"

"Sure, weren't you here?"

Rory scratches the back of his neck.  "Er, no, I was out of town."

"Must've been in blooming outer space to have missed that."

He laughs nervously.  "Right.  So, uh, what happened?"

"Aliens - "

"What's this about aliens?"  Rory turns the see the Doctor coming towards them, fiddling with his sonic screwdriver.

"Where's Amy?"

"Getting her coat."  The Doctor looks up and smiles at Rory before turning to face the old man.  "Aliens, you said, what were you going to say about - "  The Doctor stops.  Blinks.  Blinks again.  Are his eyes wet?  He clears his throat.  "About - about aliens?"

"They're why everybody's left the city, 'cos, I mean, nobody wants to be around the next time a giant alien ship nearly destroys all of London.  All these alien invasions seem to crop up around Christmastime, like clockwork, and don't think nobody's noticed, 'cos we have!  First there was the one five years ago, with the giant ship just hanging about over London, then the one where a giant alien ship that looked like a bleeding Christmas ornament just floated above the city and started shooting everyone, and then three years ago a giant replica of the Titanic nearly crashed into Buckingham Palace!  Nothing's happened since then, or nothing that we know about, at least, but better safe than sorry is what I always say, and I'm sticking by it, thanks very much."  He folds his arms across his chest and lets out a self-satisfied _harrumph_.

The Doctor smiles.  "Thank you."  He reaches across the stall to shake the vendor's hand. "Thank you very much.  You've been a great help, it's been a pleasure."  He leans in, oblivious to the vendor's confusion.  "Really, I can't thank you enough... Mr. Mott."  The Doctor releases the other man's hand and turns on his heel.  "Come along, Pond, it's time to be off."

"Be off?"  They turn to see Amy, now comfortably clad in an enormous and, quite frankly,  _hideous_ sweater, running towards them.  "Not without me, you don't."  She loops her arm through Rory's and the Doctor's and the three set off down the road.

"I thought we were going to Barcelona?" Rory asks, finding it faintly discomfiting to be walking down the middle of the road and seeing all the shops closed and the streets completely empty.

"Come on, I've never been in London when it's this deserted," Amy replies, tilting her face up towards the sky.  She closes her eyes and sighs.  "Mm.  Soak in that total lack of sunshine.  Feels good, doesn't it?"

Rory frowns. "Doctor?"

"Yes, Pond?"

"How... did you know that man's name?"

The Doctor opens his mouth to respond, but he's cut off by a loud whirring noise.  Amy opens her eyes and Rory and the Doctor lift their heads to the sky.  A shadow passes over the three as an enormous structure blocks out the wintry grey light.  

"Ah."  The Doctor smiles his knowing smile.  "Dirigibles."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any questions you have about the liberties I've taken with Pete's World I'll be happy to answer, but I'd rather not spoil the whole fic by explaining everything here.  
> There will probably only be two chapters, but as I might feel the need to add a third one, I figure I'll leave it undecided for now.  
> Read on, and tell me what you think!


	2. Pink and Yellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Ah." The Doctor smiles his knowing smile. "Dirigibles."

The Doctor's smile fades as quickly as it appeared.  "No, no, no!  This is not good,  _not good_!"  He pulls his arm out of Amy's grasp and whirls on his heel, gesticulating wildly.  "We should not be here, we _can_ not be here!"  He lets his head fall into his hands and rubs his temples.  "We have to leave, now."  He jerks his head back up and grabs Amy's arm.  "Come along, Ponds, we're going back home."

He manages to drag them a good three feet before Amy protests.  "What are you -  _Doctor_!"  She tears her arm free and frowns at the Doctor.  "What's going on?  Why can't we be here?"

"And what's with the airship?"

"Yeah, what Rory said."

" _Please_ , Amy, _please_ , just listen to me just this once."  When Amy merely purses her lips, the Doctor shakes his head and scowls.  "Ugh!  You are always just so - all these questions - well, for once would it kill you to just do as I asked without any stupid questions?"  Amy does not back down.  The Doctor groans, backs up a few feet, and begins to pace.  "We can't be here because this is an alternate universe.  It was sealed off after the Battle of Canary Wharf and sealed off... well,  _again_ after the Dalek invasion in 2009 - "  Seeing his words elicit no response from either of his companions, the Doctor adds, "You know, way back in 2009, planets in the sky?  No?"  He frowns and mutters something to himself that sounds like "crack", but before Amy or Rory can ask him to elaborate, he continues, "Point is we can't be here, all right?  Last time I was here..."  He puts his hands on his hips and squints at the zeppelin flying past at a liesurely rate.  "Whew.  Last time I was here."  He winks at Amy and smiles, but it is hollow.

Amy frowns and turns to Rory.  He shrugs.

"What year did the paper say, Rory?" the Doctor asks, shaking out his arms as he continues down the street.

"2016, I think."

The Doctor shakes his head.  "That's... good, I suppose.  Not crossing my own timestream, then."  He scratches his head and repeats under his breath, "We shouldn't be here."

"Well, we  _are_ , so either go sulk in the TARDIS for a good few minutes while Rory and I explore, or you can come with us and tell us what's going on."

" _Explore_?"  He scoffs.

"Yes, explore!" Amy looks  _this_ close to stomping her foot like a child.  "An alternate universe?  That's  _incredible_ , Doctor, we've never been in an alternate universe before - "

"Well, no, we have, haven't we, or - no, that was the bubble universe," Rory corrects, shaking his head.  "Right."

Amy continues as though he hasn't said anything.  " - and I want to know what's different besides the zeppelins.  Who's alive, who's dead, historically what happened, you know."

The Doctor turns around and smiles a grim smile.  "Amelia Pond.  Always - "

"Where is it?"

"I don't see it, it's not here!"

"But it has to be! I heard it!"

"I meant not  _here_ here, not not here _here_."

"Right, 'cos _that_ makes so much..."  The speaker rounds the corner midsentence and skids to a stop at the sight of Amy, Rory, and the Doctor.  "...sense."  She gasps.  "Oh...  _oh_!"

The Doctor turns white as a sheet.  He brings a hand up, to smooth down his hair or straighten his bowtie Rory doesn't know, but he pauses and it lingers somewhere around his throat and Rory can see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows.   The girl beams a thousand-watt smile and begins to run straight at them.  "There you are!"

"Doctor," Amy begins, but she's cut off by the girl nearly knocking her to the ground as she runs past Amy, past Rory, and - past the Doctor?

They turn to see her run straight towards the TARDIS.  And this is where things get complicated.

Because a moment later a man rounds the corner, a man wearing a blue pinstripe suit and bright red trainers, a man who - unlike the girl - pauses and looks at the other three before catching sight of the TARDIS, a man whose mouth widens into an O of surprise and who crows, "Oh, you beauty!" before running full-speed to the TARDIS.

Because he pulls out something that looks far too much like a sonic screwdriver and scans the TARDIS before pressing himself to the wood paneling and running a hand down the doorframe, and a moment later he turns away and takes the girl up in his arms and swings her around, and he kisses her like he never wants to stop and he calls her _Rose_.

Because the girl laughs like she wants to cry and kisses him back like she's afraid she won't get another chance and -

\- and she calls him _Doctor_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so you may have noticed I changed the year a few times in the last chapter. It's because I realized after I posted it that in order for the story to work, it'd need to be a few years later than the date I had initially posted.  
> Anyway, feel free to ask me about anything you don't quite understand, and I hope you enjoy!


End file.
